The 1977 Chicago White Sox season in the American League saw the team finish third in the American League West, at 90–72, 12 games behind the Kansas City Royals.

Offseason

White Sox owner Bill Veeck tried a new philosophy during the offseason: figuring that if he could not compete with the bigger spending clubs for free agents, he would "rent" them, even if only for one year. With this strategy in mind, he traded for Richie Zisk (who had one year remaining on his contract) and Oscar Gamble (also in the final year of his contract), hoping that he would be able to continue the practice financially.^[1]

Notable transactions

October 6, 1976: Minnie Miñoso was released by the White Sox.^[2]
October 21, 1976: Phil Roof was traded by the White Sox to the Toronto Blue Jays for a player to be named later. The Blue Jays completed the deal by sending Larry Anderson to the White Sox on January 5.^[3]
November 26, 1976: Eric Soderholm was signed as a free agent by the White Sox.^[4]
December 5, 1976: Royle Stillman was signed as a free agent by the White Sox.^[5]
December 10, 1976: Goose Gossage and Terry Forster were traded by the White Sox to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Richie Zisk and Silvio Martínez.^[6]
January 11, 1977: Mark Esser was drafted by the White Sox in the 8th round of the 1977 Major League Baseball draft.^[7]
January 26, 1977: Blue Moon Odom was released by the White Sox.^[8]
February 15, 1977: Fritz Peterson was signed as a free agent by the White Sox.^[9]

Regular season

On April 7 in Toronto, the White Sox played the Toronto Blue Jays in the first game in Blue Jays history.^[10]

The White Sox, who came to be called the "South Side Hitmen", were in solid contention for most of the season, battling the division-winning Royals and Minnesota Twins most of the way.^[1] They moved into first place in the AL West on July 1 and remained there until August 12.^[1] Their primary weapon was their power hitting. As a team, the White Sox hit 192 home runs, a record which lasted until 1996.^[1] Their displays of power caused fans to cheer for "curtain calls", where players came out of the dugout after hitting a home run to acknowledge those cheers. Some Royals players greatly resented this, and called such behavior "bush" and "unprofessional". The climax of this came on August 5, when White Sox pitcher Bart Johnson and Royals catcher Darrell Porter had a fistfight in a game at Kansas City.^[1]

Opening Day lineup

Ralph Garr, left field
Alan Bannister, shortstop
Jorge Orta, second base
Richie Zisk, right field
Jim Spencer, first base
Oscar Gamble, designated hitter
Eric Soderholm, third base
Chet Lemon, center field
Brian Downing, catcher
Ken Brett, pitcher

Season standings

v t e AL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Kansas City Royals	102	60	0.630	—	55–26	47–34
Texas Rangers	94	68	0.580	8	44–37	50–31
Chicago White Sox	90	72	0.556	12	48–33	42–39
Minnesota Twins	84	77	0.522	17½	48–32	36–45
California Angels	74	88	0.457	28	39–42	35–46
Seattle Mariners	64	98	0.395	38	29–52	35–46
Oakland Athletics	63	98	0.391	38½	35–46	28–52

Record vs. opponents

1977 American League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	6–8	5–6	5–5	11–4	12–3	4–7	11–4	6–4	8–7	8–2	7–3	4–6	10–5
Boston	8–6	—	7–3	3–7	8–7	9–6	5–5	9–6	4–6	8–7	8–3	10–1	6–4	12–3
California	6–5	3–7	—	8–7	6–4	4–6	6–9	5–5	7–8	4–7	5–10	9–6	5–10	6–4
Chicago	5–5	7–3	7–8	—	6–4	4–6	8–7	6–5	10–5	3–7	10–5	10–5	6–9	8–3
Cleveland	4–11	7–8	4–6	4–6	—	8–7	3–7	11–4	2–9	3–12	7–3	7–3	2–9	9–5
Detroit	3–12	6–9	6–4	6–4	7–8	—	3–8	10–5	5–5	6–9	5–5	5–6	2–8	10–5
Kansas City	7–4	5–5	9–6	7–8	7–3	8–3	—	8–2	10–5	5–5	9–6	11–4	8–7	8–2
Milwaukee	4–11	6–9	5–5	5–6	4–11	5–10	2–8	—	3–8	8–7	5–5	7–3	5–5	8–7
Minnesota	4–6	6–4	8–7	5–10	9–2	5–5	5–10	8–3	—	2–8	8–6	7–8	8–7	9–1
New York	7–8	7–8	7–4	7–3	12–3	9–6	5–5	7–8	8–2	—	9–2	6–4	7–3	9–6
Oakland	2–8	3–8	10–5	5–10	3–7	5–5	6–9	5–5	6–8	2–9	—	7–8	2–13	7–3
Seattle	3–7	1–10	6–9	5–10	3–7	6–5	4–11	3–7	8–7	4–6	8–7	—	9–6	4–6
Texas	6–4	4–6	10–5	9–6	9–2	8–2	7–8	5–5	7–8	3–7	13–2	6–9	—	7–4
Toronto	5–10	3–12	4–6	3–8	5–9	5–10	2–8	7–8	1–9	6–9	3–7	6–4	4–7	—

Notable transactions

April 5, 1977: Bucky Dent was traded by the White Sox to the New York Yankees for Oscar Gamble, LaMarr Hoyt, Bob Polinsky (minors), and $200,000.^[11]
August 20, 1977: Steve Staniland (minors) was traded by the White Sox to the St. Louis Cardinals for Don Kessinger.^[12]
August 31, 1977: The White Sox traded players to be named later to the St. Louis Cardinals for Clay Carroll. The White Sox completed the deal by sending Nyls Nyman to the Cardinals on September 2, and sending Dave Hamilton and Silvio Martínez to the Cardinals on November 28.^[13]

Roster

1977 Chicago White Sox

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

20 Nyls Nyman

Manager

21 Bob Lemon

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; BB = Base on balls; SO = Strikeouts; AVG = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	SB
Alan Bannister, SS,2B,LF,CF	139	560	87	154	20	3	3	57	54	49	.275	4
Kevin Bell, SS,3B	9	28	4	5	1	0	1	6	3	8	.179	0
Jack Brohamer, 3B,2B	59	152	26	39	10	3	2	20	21	8	.257	0
Bob Coluccio, OF	20	37	4	10	0	0	0	7	6	2	.270	0
Henry Cruz, OF	53	77	13	17	2	1	2	10	8	11	.221	0
Tommy Cruz, LF	4	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0
Brian Downing, C,DH,OF	69	169	28	48	4	2	4	25	34	21	.284	1
Jim Essian, C	114	322	50	88	18	2	10	44	52	35	.273	1
John Flannery, SS	7	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000	0
Oscar Gamble, DH,OF	137	408	75	121	22	2	31	83	54	54	.297	1
Ralph Garr, LF	134	543	78	163	29	7	10	54	27	44	.300	12
Jerry Hairston, CF,LF	13	26	3	8	2	0	0	4	5	7	.308	0
Lamar Johnson, DH,1B	118	374	52	113	12	5	18	65	24	53	.302	1
Don Kessinger, SS,2B,3B	39	119	12	28	3	2	0	11	13	7	.235	2
Chet Lemon, CF	150	553	99	151	38	4	19	67	52	88	.273	8
Bob Molinaro, RF	1	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.500	1
Bill Nahorodny, C	7	23	3	6	1	0	1	4	2	3	.261	0
Tim Nordbrook, SS	15	20	2	5	0	0	0	1	7	4	.250	1
Wayne Nordhagen, RF,LF,DH	52	124	16	39	7	3	4	22	2	12	.315	1
Nyls Nyman, PH	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0
Jorge Orta, 2B	144	564	71	159	27	8	11	84	46	49	.282	4
Eric Soderholm, 3B,DH	130	460	77	129	20	3	25	67	47	47	.280	2
Jim Spencer, 1B	128	470	56	116	16	1	18	69	36	50	.247	1
Mike Squires, 1B	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	0
Royle Stillman, OF,DH	56	119	18	25	7	1	3	13	17	21	.210	2
Richie Zisk, RF,DH,LF	141	531	78	154	17	6	30	101	55	98	.290	0
Team Totals	162	5633	844	1568	254	52	192	809	559	666	.278	42

Pitching

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; HR = Home runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts

Player	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K
Larry Anderson	1	3	9.35	6	0	0	8.2	10	10	9	1	19	7
Francisco Barrios	14	7	4.12	33	31	0	231.1	241	117	106	22	59	119
Ken Brett	6	4	5.01	13	13	0	82.2	101	47	46	10	15	39
Clay Carroll	1	3	4.76	8	0	1	11.1	14	7	6	3	4	4
Bruce Dal Canton	0	2	3.75	8	0	2	24.0	20	11	10	1	13	9
Dave Frost	1	1	3.04	4	3	0	23.2	30	9	8	0	3	15
Dave Hamilton	4	5	3.61	55	0	9	67.1	71	33	27	6	37	45
Bart Johnson	4	5	4.01	29	4	2	92.0	114	48	41	5	41	46
Don Kirkwood	1	1	5.18	16	0	0	40.0	49	27	23	3	12	24
Chris Knapp	12	7	4.80	27	26	0	146.1	166	90	78	16	62	103
Ken Kravec	11	8	4.10	26	25	0	166.2	161	87	76	12	57	125
Jack Kucek	0	1	3.63	8	3	0	34.2	35	20	14	4	10	25
Lerrin LaGrow	7	3	2.46	66	0	25	98.2	81	32	27	10	38	63
Silvio Martinez	0	1	5.57	10	0	1	21.0	28	14	13	4	14	10
Steve Renko	5	0	3.54	8	8	0	53.1	55	23	21	3	17	36
Steve Stone	15	12	4.51	31	31	0	207.1	228	115	104	25	83	124
John Verhoeven	0	0	2.61	6	0	0	10.1	9	3	3	0	2	6
Randy Wiles	1	1	10.13	5	0	0	2.2	5	3	3	1	4	0
Wilbur Wood	7	8	4.99	24	18	0	122.2	139	75	68	10	50	42
Team Totals	90	72	4.25	162	162	40	1444.2	1557	771	682	136	540	842

Awards and honors

All-Stars

All-Star Game

Richie Zisk, starter, outfield

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Iowa Oaks	American Association	Joe Sparks
AA	Knoxville Knox Sox	Southern League	Jim Napier
A	Appleton Foxes	Midwest League	Gordon Lund
Rookie	GCL White Sox	Gulf Coast League	Joe Jones

Notes

References

Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
1977 Chicago White Sox at Baseball Reference
1977 Chicago White Sox at Baseball Almanac

1977 MLB season by team

AL East	Baltimore Boston Cleveland Detroit Milwaukee New York Toronto
AL West	California Chicago Kansas City Minnesota Oakland Seattle Texas

NL East	Chicago Montréal New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis
NL West	Atlanta Cincinnati Houston Los Angeles San Diego San Francisco

Chicago White Sox

Established in 1900
Based in Chicago, Illinois

Franchise

Ballparks

Culture

Lore

Rivalries

Key personnel

Chairman: Jerry Reinsdorf
General Manager: Chris Getz
Special Assistant to the GM: Jim Thome
Manager: Pedro Grifol

World Series
championships (3)

American League
championships (6)

Division championships (6)

West: 1983
1993
Central: 2000
2005
2008
2021

Wild Card berths (1)

2020

Minor league
affiliates

Charlotte Knights (Triple-A)
Birmingham Barons (Double-A)
Winston-Salem Dash (High-A)
Kannapolis Cannon Ballers (Single-A)
ACL White Sox (Rookie)
DSL White Sox (Rookie)

Media

Seasons (123)
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